Review of Rendezvous With Dreams: A Poetic Exploration of Life, Loss, and Resilience

Review of Rendezvous With Dreams: A Poetic Exploration of Life, Loss, and Resilience

By Pradeep Biswal

Published by Shalandi Books, 2025

ISBN: 978-81-98329-75-2

Price: 300 INR

Language: English, pp. 180

Rendezvous with Dreams is the anthology of the bilingual poet, editor, and translator Pradeep Biswal. He has published nine poetry collections in Odia, and this is the third volume of his English poems. He is editor of kabitalive.com and curator of Toshali Literature Festival held in Bhubaneswar. His poems have also been translated into Hindi, Punjabi, Telugu, Assamese, and Malay. The anthology captures the tenderness of fleeting life as well as reflects on the turmoil that makes a person stronger. This collection is a testament to the endurance and resilience of the poet as well as an exploration of human experiences bound carefully in his musings. The title suggests a secret or fated meeting, giving the idea that dreams, either fulfilled or unfulfilled, are a prevalent factor in a poet's life in particular. Dreams are colorful and personal. They keep a person hooked to life and thus contribute to developing resilience toward the toils of life, enduring it all, giving them expression, and making way toward a brighter future filled with stars and light. The cover design also aids this idea with a human figure in the backdrop looking upwards, and another one looking downwards, suggesting life as a roller coaster with dreams as the escape and power source. The background is filled with colors of hope, despair and beauty.

The professional structure of the text indicates a serious literary endeavor, not an informal affair. The table of contents is comprehensive and portrays a thematic scope that moves from the deeply personal to the social and mythological, seeking larger lessons through individual experiences. It also has an epilogue where reviews of the poet's persona and other works have been done by scholarly critics. Madhur Singh Pradhan and Dr. Snehaprava Das have reviewed Biswal's A Pilgrimage to Ayodhya, Bhaskaranand Jha Bhaskar has reviewed Biswal's A House Within, and Dr. Shankar Chatterjee has given his comments on Pradeep Biswal as a poetic genius and inspiration, providing perfect closure to the anthology.

The preface of the book acts as a key to unlock and see through the emotional upheavals of the poet and witness the range of events and sentiments that the book has to offer. Biswal compiles sixty-one of his poems for this collection, which he primarily wrote during the lockdown period due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. He describes life as "larger than literature" but acknowledges literature's role in projecting the "emotions and feelings" of those moments. The pandemic was very tough for the poet, and he defines it as a time of "turmoil and turbulence." This also helped him realize the "futility of life" and prompted introspection on "human ego and appetite for power, money and physical possessions" (5-6). He also lost his mother during this period. But despite all these odds, he did not give up on life, and this collection embodies these ideas. The anthology is not solely defined by emotions of sorrow and loss, but is like life itself—full of ups and downs, emotional heights and practicality, reflections and imagination. He also notes bright moments such as the marriage of his eldest son and being blessed with a granddaughter. By opening up to the readers, Biswal creates an echo of familiarity and belonging. It sets the tone, bringing together personal tragedy, professional engagement, and domestic joys, all combined with the attestation of a post-retirement period where one has time to look back and feel everything all over again. These have fueled his "poetic passions" and made him a person who is "always satisfied with around a dozen poems in a year," with each one being "a moment to rejoice" (12).

The poems are arranged in a way that shows emotional progression and cohesion. The initial tone explores the core idea of life and dreams. The title poem "Rendezvous with Dreams" is the foundational piece, which moves toward "Forgotten Dreams" and subconscious visions. The myth of Sisyphus is utilized in his poem "Sisyphus," providing an existential reflection. The themes of love, loss, and mortality are also employed in his poems, taking readers on emotional heights and fostering a personal bond with the poet. "Living on the Memories," "Valley of Sorrows," and "Parting Time" deal with absence and transition. "A Handful of Dust" (43) is a powerful metaphor for inherited legacy and mortality. Love and desire are explored in "Entwined Souls," "Sea and She," "Monsoon Love," and "Insatiable." The poems further move to socio-political and geographic themes: "Tremors in Turkey" addresses a global calamity; "Witnessing Ayodhya," "Sangam: The Confluence," and "An Evening in Ganga: Varanasi" bear witness to India's religious and cultural beauty. "A Road to Hathras" shows social realism. The latter half of the book poses questions to the readers as well as offers commentary on spiritual comfort and ways to handle life smoothly. For example, "Where Shall I Go Now" questions the direction and purpose of life, and poems like "The Sky" and "A Hollowed Silence" suggest spiritual comfort by turning to cosmic energy and stillness. "A Poet Has No Land" talks about the universality of the artist, where he or she does not belong to a particular sect but becomes a people's poet.

Pradeep Biswal's anthology Rendezvous with Dreams is a poetic exploration of love and loss, hope and resilience, where the poet uses his personal life as well as knowledge of socio-political events to universalize human experiences and let the readers have their own "rendezvous with dreams," which shall inspire them not to lose hope and keep going in life. The poet sets an example as well as forms a connection with the audience through his words. The poems made me laugh, made me cry, left me startled, and provoked me to change social realities and do something revolutionary. The poems are such that they will stay with you for life. As Biswal pens in his poem "Prelude to Poetry"—"Can everything be put in words? So many things remain unspoken behind poetry/ behind stories/ behind the stage" (56). The same holds true for the poet's psyche as well as this review, because it cannot totally explain the journey I had as a reader from the first to the last page. One has to read it themselves to fully comprehend for themselves, its depth and meaning.

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About the Reviewer:

Akanksha Pandey is an Assistant Professor in Shri Ramswaroop Memorial University as well as a research scholar in the Department of English and Modern European Languages at the University of Lucknow. Her areas of interest are Indian Literature, Translation Studies and Cultural Studies. Her book reviews have been featured in Rhetorica-A Literary Journal of Arts, Pyssum Literaria : A Crea

tive Arts Journal, Muse India: The Literary e-journal and Creative Flight: An International Half-Yearly Open Access Peer-Reviewed E-Journal in English and Wilderness House Literary Review (Massachusetts, USA).